www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Hope you can help me with this.. there is a place that sells coffee by the pound in SJ, I don't remember the name, but i want to say Volcan?? I don't remember the location, but its close to SL..the guy that served me had a mole on his face.. anyone know thia place??

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"Some people hear voices.. Some see invisible people.. Others have no imagination whatsoever."

Go to any supermarket and buy a couple bags of Cafe Brit coffee, it is abouut as good as it gets and the price is good. They also have a program at any of the Cafe Brit stores in the airports (we have one of their stores in my hotel). You can send 10 pounds of coffee to anywhere in the U.S. for about $125 including the shipping. You pick out the mix of flavors and stuff, pay at the counter and it gets shipped the next day. I think this is the best and easiest way to take coffee home from Costa Rica.

Place you are thinking of is most likely Cafe Volio. They have a store on Avenida 1 near the central market. You can also find it at many supermarkets. The price is about 200 colon more at the markets but I think the packaging is better for taking it back to the states.

Everyone has a favorite coffee but, IMO, Cafe Britt is overpriced and geared toward the tourist market. The price is almost double what Volio sells for and Britt is a 12 oz bag and Volio is a 17.6 oz bag,

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Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

Thats the one!!! Thanks amillion ID.. great coffee. I plan on buying about 5 lbs next month.

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"Some people hear voices.. Some see invisible people.. Others have no imagination whatsoever."

Can you check if they will ship it for you. I went through 6 lbs in less that 2 months last time so I need to send myself about 25lbs, hopefully that will last me until I get back. I need to make 3-4 trips a year to buy coffee....

Here's an excellent Thread about coffee from Aug. '09. Includes some embedded links. All generally useful:
www.costaricaticas.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=30366

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"A man accustomed to hear only the echo of his own sentiments, soon bars all the common avenues of delight, and has no part in the general gratification of mankind"--Dr. Johnson
"Amen, brother"-ED

You might want to try Voilo before you buy a lot of it, to me Brit is a much more full bodied cofee.

You can have it shipped to the U.S. If you buy 20 bags (22 lbs) the cost including shipping is $109.00.

http://www.cafevolio.com/ourcompany.html

_________________
Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

I drink Cafe Rey, at 250 grams it is 790 colones at Mas x Menos. One of the cheaper in the supermarket. I make it the Tico way with a sock and it is some of the best that I have had anywhere. Ditto on Britt. It is just packaged pretty to appeal to the tourists. I always advise just buying in the market. Will try your recommendation ID, always looking for a different taste.

Spanky buys it in the Central Mercardo. It is packaged in a paper sack. The cost is lower than the prepacked items as for the quality I don't know

Cafe Rey selcto is very good. The reason I do not use it it because it is very difficult to find in whole bean (entero) version. Most all of the markets only carry the ground (molida) version.

_________________
Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

With a sock?

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"All them women gonna make me,
teach 'em what they don't know how..." TMIB

jaja That's what it is called. It is a cloth thing that hangs from a wooden or metal stand and you pour the boiling water through. Not a wearable sock...

Oh, that's better It's just a filter for the coffee grounds.

For a minute there, I thought you were referring to a sock used on feet or for other nefarious purposes

_________________
"All them women gonna make me,
teach 'em what they don't know how..." TMIB

The bag hanging from the frame is called, "una bolsa" here.

My advice buying coffee.

Buy the whole bean. Buying fresh roasted beans. The freshness lasts about a week. Ground coffee begins off-gasing CO2 right away, and loses freshness quickly. If you buy from the supermercado, look for the one-way vent in the bag. It off-gases CO2, and keeps its favor longer.

The coffee vendors around the Mercado Central is the best bet. I tried all of them, and the best one for favor and freshness is Volio. It is located across from the north side of the mercado. And the smaller bags are priced proportionately to the kilo bags. I keep extra bags in my freezer in the US, and it keeps for 2-3 months.

Ideally, I would have a tostadora (coffee roaster) at home and buy raw beans. But I'm lazy, so I go to the next best way.